Written by Sharri Margraves, HR Associate Director for Organization and Professional Development.
As we continue to navigate the current normal, we must also move forward. Budget constraints, retirements, realignments and other changes are just a part of life in every organization, even in non-pandemic times. Even though changes may be substantial, we retain people, systems, processes, facilities, and our shared understanding to create our new reality. Change may be rapid, but generally, it is also incremental.
In the article The University Immune System: Overcoming Resistance to Change an unusual, yet useful, analogy is described of change in complex systems. Think of implementing change in organizations in a similar context as the immunological response to a pathogen introduced to the human body. No relationship exists between these two systems on the surface; however, the parallels can illustrate the difficulties of introducing and making change stick.
Reacting to Change
As change is introduced within your team, staff and faculty may resist change, often affecting operational and financial realities. Even when a change is likely to produce benefits, there will be resistance expressed in various ways. Change is relative to each individual and how individual team members affect the system in their response to change. The resistance lies within the innate response of the system to change, and this resistance has been referred to as the “institutional immune system.”
In comparison, an invading pathogen needs to infect a host to carry out its mission, and the body will then marshal its forces to fight against this change. In an organizational sense, change is that threat, and the people in the system can form a response that reacts or overreacts to a threat, be it real or perceived. This response to the threat—the new idea or change—is designed to maintain the status quo and reduce unknowns and unproven risks.
Effective Leadership in Times of Change
There are many barriers present in an organization preventing the adaption of change. We can overcome these barriers—these intrusions to the system—by anticipating and being prepared. Have several strategies at the ready to foster acceptance of the change intended to improve the organization. These strategies include:
- Improving leadership development skills around change and communication.
- Recognizing and focusing attention on effective communication.
- Effective rewards for new expectations.
- Pacing/timing changes realistically.
Leaders should take the time to plan strategies for individuals’ varied responses—those who are eager, those who take a “wait and see” approach, and those who are slow to accept change. These strategies will help reduce the threat of change and improve adaptation.
Follow the steps below to support the implementation and acceptance of change within your team:
- Plan for change as a system of people, process, and culture.
- Embrace resistance as natural and not personal.
- Give the “why.”
- Establish open, two-way communication.
- Celebrate the wins, regardless of how small.
Collectively, we will not be returning to our previous, pre-COVID state, and attempting to do so would hardly signal progress toward the future. Resistance is a natural defense mechanism. Your challenge is to be mindful of different strategies and appeals for the different members of your team to effectively work with the resistance and move forward together.
Source:
Gilley, A., Godek, M., & Gilley, J. W. (2009). The University Immune System: Overcoming Resistance to Change. Contemporary Issues in Education Research, 2(3), 1-6.